Böckelmann Irina, Pfister Eberhard, Darius Sabine
Institute of Occupational Medicine, Otto-von-Guericke University, D-39120 Magdeburg, Germany.
J Toxicol. 2011;2011:832519. doi: 10.1155/2011/832519. Epub 2011 May 29.
The situation of exposure in a copper works facility in Germany enabled early lead-induced neurotoxic effects to be investigated in the workers. The aim of the investigation was to study the long-term effects of small doses of lead on psychometric/psychophysiological performance of workers. The study involved 70 male lead exposed workers and 27 male controls with no neurotoxic exposure. All test persons were subjected to the method of investigation involving performance data, physiological strain data, and the subjective state. It was found that of the psychometric performance parameters, only the mainly motor performance parameters had a potential for being neurotoxic early indicators. Preferably centrally influenced performance parameters were found to be less suitable early indicators. The lead-exposed subjects exhibited a slowed poststrain resetting behaviour of the vegetative nervous system, which correlated with the individual blood lead level. This was attributed to vagus depression, which had already started in the prevailing situation of exposure and was reflected by diminished cardiac phase duration variability. Our results indicate that it is necessary to more critically choose the lead level standards in the air on the working area. Heart rate variability may be affected even at small lead concentration.
德国一家铜厂设施中的暴露情况，使得能够对工人早期铅诱导的神经毒性效应展开调查。该调查的目的是研究小剂量铅对工人心理测量/心理生理表现的长期影响。该研究涉及70名接触铅的男性工人和27名无神经毒性暴露的男性对照。所有测试对象都接受了涉及工作表现数据、生理应激数据和主观状态的调查方法。研究发现，在心理测量表现参数中，只有主要的运动表现参数有可能成为早期神经毒性指标。发现受中枢影响较大的表现参数不太适合作为早期指标。接触铅的受试者表现出植物神经系统应变后重置行为减慢，这与个体血铅水平相关。这归因于迷走神经抑制，其在普遍的暴露情况下就已开始，并通过心动周期持续时间变异性降低得以体现。我们的结果表明，有必要更审慎地选择工作区域空气中的铅含量标准。即使铅浓度很低，心率变异性也可能受到影响。
